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1.1archaic [mass noun]The tendency of a place to be frequented by many people:

‘places of public resort’

‘The town is only in its infancy as a place of public resort, and, therefore, possesses few public buildings deserving of notice, the principal occupation having been to build houses and new streets, for the accommodation of new residents.’

‘According to the argument on the other side, streets leading to places of public resort are unprotected.’

‘In the earliest days the city gate is mentioned as the place of public resort, where people met for business and to discuss news.’

2[mass noun]The action of resorting to a course of action in a difficult situation:

‘Germany and Italy tried to resolve their economic and social failures by resort to fascism’

‘workers may regard an all-out strike as a measure of last resort’

‘This would partly be due to its more benign view of the world order which sees military force as an option of last resort, not a matter of policy.’

‘Thus, professional marital therapy may be seen as an option of last resort, even for those few willing to seek it.’

‘The convention allows for lawful detention of children for the shortest possible period of time and as a matter of last resort.’

‘Therefore, the currency board is not the lender of last resort to the banking system: if a bank is failing, the currency board will not bail the bank out.’

‘They are a technically reliable threat of last resort to discourage a foe from pressing too hard or threatening national survival.’

‘What alarms the consumer is that the proposed restrictions will put their health in jeopardy and give them no choice whatsoever except resort to drugs.’

‘The difficulty that emerges is that there is resort to statements of the superficial in seeking to describe what are deep and complex issues.’

‘Landowners, however, stressed the importance of powers of last resort to enable the police to arrest individuals who acted irresponsibly.’

‘What could possibly justify our resort to the very means we properly abhor and condemn?’

‘The money raised would become a sort of piggy bank of last resort to pay doctors and hospitals for patients who don't pay them.’

‘If adoption continues as an option of last resort, children will remain in the limbo of foster care for too long.’

‘Public housing has been transformed into an ever-diminishing refuge of last resort.’

‘Yet this Utopia seems increasingly difficult to attain without resort to war.’

‘It is the option of first recourse and of last resort.’

‘It is a place that has allowed reason to be at the heart of all these things, that has allowed genuine dissent without resort to violence.’

‘The second, i.e. to explore other provider possibilities, was considered to be an option of last resort.’

‘Adoption is not an option of last resort; to regard it as such is a failure to understand the nature of adoption and its advantages for a child unable to live with his own family.’

‘They reduce the frequency and intensity with which the authorities must intervene as lenders of last resort to avert systemic crises.’

‘Imprisonment is, in this context, a remedy of last resort.’

‘This is consistent with parental practice which, as noted earlier, is marked by rapidly declining resort to physical punishment of children older than four.’

‘local authorities have a duty to provide adequate sites for gypsies ‘residing in or resorting to’ their areas’

‘Since the duty relates to the provision of accommodation 'for gipsies residing in or resorting to' the area it is relevant to inquire whether the group visits regularly.’

‘In this respect, it is important to consider the manner of trade being proposed; the number and kinds of persons resorting to the area; the expectations of those persons in respect of access to liquor; and the extent to which other premises in the area can meet those expectations.’

‘These matters are of considerable concern to residents and others resorting to the area.’

Origin

Late Middle English (denoting something one can turn to for assistance): from Old French resortir, from re- again + sortir come or go out. The sense ‘place frequently visited’ dates from the mid 18th century.